Warsaw Book Fair session spotlights Emirati aspects

Young readers took centre stage at the Warsaw International Book Fair 2026 as Emirati author Nadia Al Najjar and Polish author Paulina Płatkowska led an interactive storytelling session that highlighted the ability of children’s literature to connect cultures, experiences and imaginations across borders.

Held as part of Sharjah’s Guest of Honour programme, the session, titled “Between East and West”, brought together children and families for a lively exchange of stories inspired by nature, family, identity and everyday life. Rather than a traditional author talk, the event evolved into a collaborative reading and storytelling experience that encouraged young participants to engage directly with both writers.

Al Najjar immediately drew children into the conversation by inviting them to guess where she had travelled from before introducing Dubai as her home city. Using illustrations and readings from several of her books, she guided the audience through stories rooted in the UAE’s natural environment, including Ghafatan, which centres on the ghaf tree, the UAE’s national tree. The discussion introduced children to the Emirati desert, its climate and landscapes, while encouraging comparisons between life in the UAE and Poland.

Describing the desert as a defining part of Emirati identity, Al Najjar explained how its extremes of heat and cold inspire imagination and provide rich material for children’s stories. She also spoke about Qamar, a story inspired by her family’s experience with pet cats, demonstrating how ordinary moments can be transformed into meaningful narratives for young readers.

Another title featured a deaf girl and explored the role of sign language and communication within families. Al Najjar explained how stories can help children understand experiences different from their own while encouraging empathy and inclusion.

One of the session’s most memorable moments came when Al Najjar asked how many children enjoyed reading and writing. Hands immediately shot into the air before one young attendee revealed that she had already written a book of her own, although it had not yet been published.

Al Najjar invited the aspiring young author onto the stage to share her story with the audience. The girl explained that her book follows a child who wakes up one morning to discover that everyone around her, including her parents, has disappeared. The spontaneous exchange transformed the session into a collective storytelling exercise, with children actively contributing ideas and reflections.

Nature’s influence: Responding to Al Najjar’s presentation, Płatkowska reflected on the similarities between their creative journeys. She noted that Qamar reminded her of a cat she cares for at home and revealed that the first book she wrote was also centred on a tree, creating an unexpected connection with Ghafatan.

Płatkowska also spoke about the influence of nature on her work, describing plants and forests as a constant source of inspiration. Living in a home surrounded by woodland, she explained that the natural world often becomes a central character in her stories rather than simply a backdrop.

Reflecting on her beginnings as a writer, Płatkowska revealed that her daughter was the first reader of her work. Many of her stories, she said, grew out of shared family experiences before eventually finding their way into published books.

The session reflected Sharjah’s wider Guest of Honour programme at the Warsaw International Book Fair, which uses literature, dialogue and creative exchange to build cultural connections between the Arab world and Europe while encouraging young readers to see stories as a shared space for discovery and imagination.

Earlier, the Sharjah pavilion hosted a discussion titled “The Art of Storytelling through Narrative Experiences from the UAE and Poland”, featuring Emirati writer Saleha Ghabesh and Polish novelist Albena Grabowska.

The conversation explored how memory, history, and translation enable stories rooted in local experience to resonate with readers around the world.

The session brought together the two authors to reflect on the relationship between storytelling, memory, history, and place, and how literature can cross cultural and geographical boundaries while remaining deeply connected to its origins.

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter